Writer Wednesday Blog Hop #24

Every week I weed through over 100 blogs, looking for writing advice and new and interesting books to read. Considering how time consuming this is, I share the posts I find the most interesting here every week. If you’d like me to add your blog to my feeder or a link from my weekly tour, leave a comment on the most current tour or send me a link via Twitter @by_wjhoward.

All About Writers

• On Dance on Fire, Hitting 50 ...and more, James Garcia Jr., on his four month journey through publication.

All About Books

• On Overbury Ink, Number 38, part 7 – by Ian Eliot LeWinter
• On Farm Lane Books Blog, White is for Witching – Helen Oyeyemi
• On Fantasy Literature's Fantasy Reviews, Who Fears Death: A book I will never forget
• On Bookgasm, Strip AND Blood Guts & Whiskey
• On Marissa Farrar's blog, The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

All About Writing & Publishing

• FAV! On Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors, Use All 5 Senses to Bring Your Setting to Life
• FAV! On Copyblogger, Charles Bukowski and the Secret to Immortal Writing
• On Vamplit's Library, Artwork A Personal Story of Jekyll and Hyde
• On the Wicked Writer's blog, Internet Writers Resources – free for the taking!
• On Rachelle Gardner's blog, How to Become a Better Writer
• On a Newbie's Guide to Publishing, The Difference Between Sales and Fans
• On Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency's blog, Has Your Ship Sailed?

Weekly Features

• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford's This Week in Publishing
• Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy
• This week's Where Stories Are Made: Paul Magrs over at Book Chick City
• On Book Lovers Inc., Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

Blogging Events

• July 16 - 18, Book Extravaganza
• September 13 - 17, Book Blogger Appreciation Week

Join the Hop

Are you highlighting writers and books in your blog for Writer Wednesday? Then add your blog to my new blog hop link group. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links...

Writer Wednesday Blog Hop #23

Every week I weed through over 100 blogs, looking for writing advice and new and interesting books to read. Considering how time consuming this is, I share the posts I find the most interesting here every week. If you’d like me to add your blog to my feeder or a link from my weekly tour, leave a comment on the most current tour or send me a link via Twitter @by_wjhoward.

FYI... Bloodleggers begins today. In honor of our first release, we're holding a drawing to win a free eBook published by eBookUndead. Leave a comment and you're entered to win. Hope you'll drop by Blood Reads to read.

All About Writers

• FAV! On A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, Konrath Kindle Stats
• On Kiki Hamilton's blog, Inspiration, Advances and How to Write the Breakout Novel

All About Books

• On the Overbury Ink, Steampunk Novel Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger
• On Fantasy Literature, reviews of Killswitch: Even more exciting than the first two books!
• Also on Fantasy Literature Thoughtful Thursday: Reading is not a spectator sport
• By The Cajun Book Lady, Review: Firefly Island by Daniel Arenson
• FAV! On Bitten by Books, 45 Plus FREE Books! FREE Friday! Woot!
• Over at Something Wicked This Way comes, Marissa’s Top Ten Horror Novels AND Nicole's Top Ten Scariest Reads!

All About Writing & Publishing

• On Pub Rants, One Possible Peril Of A Multi-book Deal AND Talk About the Money
• In the Wicked Writer's blog, From One Medium to Another
• On Fangtastic Books, The Popularity of Vampires with Tom Olbert and Unholy Alliance Giveaway
• On Wordplay: Helping Writers become authors, Should Stories Be Soapboxes?
• On Mysteries and Margtaritas, Mary's Rants - Take the whine out of writing
• On Writers Gone Wild, Thoughts on Editing by SarannaDeWylde
• Thank you Rachell Gardner for Short and Not-Always-Sweet Answers AND Really Not That Complicated
• FAV! On Writing in the Crosshairs, How Can We Know talks about the buzz about agents charging for readings.

Weekly Features

• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford's This Week in Publishing AND Why I Write Vague Rejection Letters
• Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy
• This week's Where Stories are Made: AUTHOR over at Book Chick City
• On Book Lovers Inc., Around the Bookish World: News Week-in-Review

Blogging Events

• July 16 - 18, Book Extravaganza
• September 13 - 17, Book Blogger Appreciation Week

Join the Hop

Are you highlighting writers and books in your blog for Writer Wednesday? Then add your blog to my new blog hop link group. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links...

What are your reading habits?

If I don't get a question from one of my readers, I look for questions on other people's blogs. This week I found a list of questions on Candace's Book Blog, a new blog I added to my read list a couple weeks ago. Click here for Candace's answers.

Here are my answers to the questions. Leave a comment if you decide to share in the fun so I can read your answers.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack:
I don't eat while I read. I guess I'm not coordinated to chew and read at the same time.

What is your favorite drink while reading?
Whatever I happen to have, which is likely coffee, water or ice tea since that's about all I drink..

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Depends on what I'm reading. I like to keep fiction books pristine, so I'll use a tab sticky if I want to mark a passage. I believe nonfiction books are meant for marking and remarking. Maybe it's a left over feeling from college.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
Bookmark, primarily. If I'm just getting up for a few minutes and returning to read, I lay the book open flat.

Fiction, non-fiction, or both?
Fiction & non-fiction. I've got at least one of each going at any given time.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
I can stop anywhere, but prefer to stop at the end of a chapter.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
I've thrown many a books across the room. I do try to give all books I read at least a 100 page read, so sometimes, forcing myself to read on can really piss me off.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
Look it up and write it down so I can use it later in my own writing. Been doing this for as long as I can remember. I don't go back to what I've written down for words though. Writing it down just seems to make it easier to remember the word.

What are you currently reading?

• White Plague by Frank Herbert
• Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil: Why Church Fathers Suppressed the Book of Enoch and Its Startling Revelations by Elizabeth Clare Prophet
• To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Riverworld 1) by Philip José Farmer AWESOME READ!!

You can check out what I'm reading on Goodreads at any time. I'm pretty annal about keeping it up to date.

What is the last book you bought?
Blood Vice: The Nightfall Syndicate, Book 1 by Keith Melton

Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
I've usually got 3 or more books going at once. I get bored while reading only one book, no matter how good the book may be.

Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
I start reading every night between 6:00 P.M and 7:00 P.M. When I'm doing research for a book, I read for an hour before, during and/or after lunch.

Do you prefer series books or stand alones?
I don't really have a preference, but come to think of it, the only series' I've really gotten into are Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Dune.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
Bradley Denton, Christopher Moore & Scott Sigler are three authors I regularly recommend.

How do you organize your books? (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)
LOL!! Lately it's been mass chaos. My 'to read' book shelf of paper books I own is a mess. Thanks Amazon for the Kindle! It's much easier to organize your eBooks. If I'm looking for a paper book I own, I usually have some idea where it is. Books from the library are all in one pile with the next book I'll read on top.

Weekly Whine: Kindle Book Prices

Last week I got half way through One for the Money by Janet Evanovich, which I picked up from the library. The book was suggested to me and I'm absolutely loving it. So, I decided I'd buy the book plus the next couple in the series for the Kindle, but only until I checked out the prices. Now, these books were published ten plus years ago, so there's a mass market format available for sale as well, but the cost of the mass market format is a dollar less than the Kindle version. I'm not paying more for a Kindle version!! Even if it is only a dollar. And since I got the Kindle, I won't buy paper anymore. For me it's a matter of the wasted resources put into producing a paper book and shipping it to my house. Sure I know it costs money to convert a book to kindle and ship it via cyberspace, but the cost to our environment is much less than the cost of recycling the paper, producing the ink, printing a book, and shipping it via ground. Doing my part for the environment is more important to me, but that doesn't mean I'll pay more for a eBook.

Wait a second, did I just contradict myself? Maybe. It's just that I've been reading a lot about the evolving publishing industry and I don't feel sorry for publishers and authors that didn't prepare for the transition. Nor do I buy into the fear factor of eBook pirating based on music pirating. Whole different market. And don't try to tell me that authors are powerless. I live with a lawyer and know better. So until they get their act together, Scribner lost out on the sale of 3+ books, and I'll continue to get the paper books from the library.

Note that most of my opinions on the changing face of publishing come from A Newbie's Guide to Publishing and my dear friend Gaynor Stenson, the new publisher at eBook Undead in the U.K.

Writer Wednesday Blog Tour #16

Every week I weed through over 100 blogs, looking for writing advice and new and interesting books to read. Considering how time consuming this is, I share the posts I find the most interesting here every week. If you’d like me to add your blog to my feeder or a link from my weekly tour, leave a comment on the most current tour or send me a link via Twitter @by_wjhoward.

All About Writers

• On Book Junkie, 10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn't Know Before

Books I Want to Read

Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:

• I might start these books by reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel.
• Over at Fantasy Literature Morpheus Road, The Light: Winning voice makes up for some plot issues
• On JoJos Book Corner a review of Beautiful Creatures.
• On Fiction Vixen, a review of Stormwalker by Allyson James
• On The Book Whisperer, Review: Branded by Keary Taylor
• On Book Lovers Inc, Review: The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay
• On Book Chick City, Book Review: A Licence To Steal by Samantha Graves

All About Writing & Publishing

• Why You Shouldn’t Write for Other Writers over at Copyblogger
• It Is What It Is Ism is an interesting post over at Editorial Ass on hanging in there and editing until your novel is just right.
• Let it Sit over at WOW! Women on Writing Blog about being more objective while editing work that has sat for awhile.
• On Rants & Ramblings, The Benefit of Hindsight Witemeyer
• On Magical Words, Revisions — Dialogue and Fake It Til You Make It
• On Book Lovers Inc, a question of ethics in Bookish Rants or Raves: Reader / Author Relationships - The
• How to Craft a Great Voice on Nathan Bransford's blog.

Weekly Features

• Book Blogger Hop at Crazy for Books
• Follow Friday for blogs at Parajunkee's View
• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford's This Week in Publishing is a blog tour of sorts.
• Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy.
• This week's Where Stories Are Made: Kristine Kathryn Rusch over at Book Chick City

Writer Wednesday Blog Tour #15

Every week I weed through over 100 blogs, looking for writing advice and new and interesting books to read. Considering how time consuming this is, I share the posts I find the most interesting here every week. If you’d like me to add your blog to my feeder or a link from my weekly tour, leave a comment on the most current tour or send me a link via Twitter @by_wjhoward.

All About Writers

• Over at the Overbury Ink, an Interview with writer Nikki Curtis of IMP Girl Graphic Novel
• Guess I didn't get enough of it in last weeks subject on the Wicked Writer's blog.  Author Perspective: Dealing With Rejection over on the Neverending Shelf

Books I Want to Read

Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:

• Over at All Things Urban Fantasy, 5 bats! Early Review: Hunted By The Others by Jess Haines they also posted Hot off the Press: May Urban Fantasy Releases
• Locke & Key, Volume 2: Head Games over at Bookgasm got me to put the first in the series in my queue
• Over on the Neverending Shelf, Book Review: The Clone Codes

All About Writing & Publishing

• Some interesting facts from an agent on releasing your book to the public unpublished or published an Pub Rants in An ISBN That Could Hurt
• Natan Bansford posted a great review of iPad!!
• 17 Easy Steps to Brilliant Blog Posts on Copyblogger.
• Over at A Brain Scientist's Take on Writing, Loading the First Impression for Quick Characterization (The Hunger Games
• On Pub Rants Starting A Novel In The Wrong Place
• What About Market Research and Guest Blogger: Christa Allan "Keep Your Hand Moving" on Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner's blog
• On Wordplay, When Your Story Doesn’t Turn Out Like You Planned

Weekly Features

• Book Blogger Hop at Crazy for Books
• Follow Friday for blogs at Parajunkee's View
• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford's This Week in Publishing is a blog tour of sorts.
• Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy.
• This week's Where Stories Are Made: Suzanne McLeod over at Book Chick City

Writer Wednesday Blog Tour #10

Every week I weed through over 80 blogs, looking for new reading material and writing advice. Considering how time consuming this is, I share the posts I find the most interesting here every week. If you'd like me to add your blog to my feeder or a link to my weekly tour, leave a comment on the most current tour or send me a link via Twitter @by_wjhoward.

All About Writers & Books

• Love a Book? Tell the Author! is a quick reminder that authors need a little love
• Interview With Authors Barb Galler-Smith and Josh Langston I'd love to write a book with someone!
• Interview and giveaway with author Adrian Phoenix over at Paranormal Haven
• Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:
  
  • Peter & Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham on Dirty Sexy Books
  • The Cajun Book Lady's review of Eight Pints of Trouble by George Earl Parker
  • Viscious Circle by Linda Robertson on on Dirty Sexy Books is a debut novel with a critical review on it breaking writing rules. For some reason I want to read it as sort of a lesson with my own writing.
  • Gaslight Grotesque: Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes edited by J. R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec on Bitten by Books
  • When I see certain book covers everywhere, I end up putting the book in my queue. Great lesson in marketing my own book. So this week, I've seen Mind Games everywhere, including on a new blog I'm watching, Anna's Book Blog
  • Bitten by Books did a few reviews of Marilyn Meredith's books that caught that intrigued me. I added Calling the Dead to my queue.
  • Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay
• Don't miss these every week:
  
  • Nicole Hadaway's movie & book reviews over at her All Things Smart & Scary.
  • Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy.
  • This week's Where Stories are Made: Linnea Sinclair over at Book Chick City

All About Writing & Publishing

• I couldn't agree more with author Jim C. Hines in his post Strong Women Characters.
• A Face by Any Other Name by Deborah LeBlanc provides an interesting way to create characters
• Novel Survey Results, Part II breaks the myths about the overnight success and you have to know somebody
• How to Format a Query Letter says it all
• Bestsellers Can Help You over at The Journey is Everything
• Why We Write p5 – The Origin of His Species – by Ian LeWinter
• A Six-Pack To Success on Literary Agent Wylie-Merrick's blog goes into "six major hurdles that must be jumped before reaching the home stretch" of publishing.
  

Other Blog Tours

• Follow Friday for blogs at Parajunkee's View
• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford's This Week in Publishing is a blog tour of sorts.

Best Advice for Writing Success

This week's posts over at the Wicked Writer's blog were all about the best advice we've received in our time as writers. My post, Work Through the Pain discusses advice I received from my father that I apply to getting through the hard days of writing.

Read the other writer's opinions:

• C. J. Ellison, brought in the guest blogger, Nicole Hadaway, author of Release, this week. Her post, The Best Advice I Ever Received (on Writing)
• Greg Marshall Smith, Sometimes I'm Glad I Listened to Other People
• Supriya Savkoor, Learn as I Go
• We also reposted How Does an Unknown Author Become a Kindle Bestseller? Perseverance

Writer Wednesday Blog Tour #8

All About Writers & Books

• This week's highlight was an interview with fellow Wicked Writer Gregory Marshall Smith over at Labotomy of a Writer. I finished reading They Call the Wild Muryah and Greg is quite the new talent in Sci Fi writing. The eBook is free on Smashwords and well worth the read!
• There's an awesome new feature over at Book Chick City. A kinda Cribs for writers that features their writing space. This week, Where Stories Are Made: Tim Waggoner. Haven't read his books, but they look pretty darn good, so Nekropolis also ended up in my reading queue.
• Over at Writing is About Putting Yourself to Words, How does an unknown author become a Kindle bestseller? Perseverance.
• I'm a new fan of Mark Henry, and he guest blogged over at Vampire Wire this week.
• And, I've got to support a Colorado writer in Guest Blog, Chat and Contest with Author Mario Acevedo over at Bitten by Books.
• Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:
  
  • Kalayna Price's Once Bitten and Twice Dead sure have gotten some mixed reviews. Still, I think I might give 'em a try.
  • I've got high hopes for the hero type I've been looking for in this review of Defeat the Darkness. But I'll be starting with Dark Protector, the first in the Paladins of Darkness series.
  • Bible Black because, "Clearly, it’s not for the easily offended. Really, really not."
  • Not new, but the Mageworlds series looks awfully good. I might have to move these one to the top of my read list.
  • Being a girl from "sweet home Chicago," I had to put the first in the Chicagoland Vampire series in my queue base on the review of Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill over at Bitten by Books
  • And last but not least, Darkness on the Edge of Town.
• Don't miss these every week:
  
  • Nicole Hadaway's movie & book reviews over at her All Things Smart & Scary blog. Nicole guest blogged for us this week over at the Wicked Writer's Blog. And, Nicole finished the first draft of Return, her sequel to Release and I'm so excited for her.
  • Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy.

All About Writing & Publishing

• Whoa There, eBook Writer contains some excellent advice for writers and was probably my favorite post this week.
• Authors Who Don't Read, doesn't seem like a reality. What do you think about it?
• How are Multiple Book Deal Advances says it all in the title. Now I need to get one.
• Persistence, a little something I could use so far this year. You also might want to read What I Learned from My 3 Favorite Authors.
• Tips for Developing Character Voice from Dee Garretson over at Livia Blackburne blog reminds us writers each character not only has something different to say, they say it differently.
• Social Media Networking - Is It Working? from a writer's perspective.

Other Blog Tours

• Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford's This Week in Publishing post is a blog tour of sorts. I still haven't gotten to all the links and it was posted last Friday. And, don't miss his post Don't Believe eBook Skeptics.

And...this week I added the following blogs to my watch list: Fantasy Literature & Paranormal Haven. If you'd like me to check out your blog, add a comment below and include a link.

Approaches to Publishing

This week's posts over at the Wicked Writer's blog were all about where we are in regards to publishing our latest works. It was my week for the guest blogger, so I thought it only appropriate we have a publisher join us. I did an interview the Gaynor Stenson of Vamplit Publishing in two parts. Part 1 was about her company and their approach to publishing. In Part 2 she provided valuable information for writers seeking to publish their novel and changes in the publishing industry.

Read the other writer's opinions:

• C. J. Ellison, Publish Your Passion
• Greg Marshall Smith, Where am I? On the Road to Hard Knocks
• Supriya Savkoor, Switching to My Editor Hat

Writer Wednesday Blog Tour #7

How to Join the Tour

All About Writers & Books

• I really enjoyed Fairy Tales Gone Naughty over at Book Junkie because I've dabbled in writing a few of my own. This week wrapped up with guest posts by Brenna Lyons and Natasha Moore
• If you're looking for new releases, check out New Vampire Books for March 2010. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith looks really interesting and FUN!
• Fellow writers, read some good news over at C.J.'s Daily Grind to remind yourself that the path is not always a difficult one. CONGRATS on all your success, C.J.
• More from Ian LeWinter over at Overbury Ink in Why We Write, Part 4. And if you missed Part 1 & Part 2 & Part 3.
• Book reviews that caught my eye this week, and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:
  
  • Wished I could have added Dark Legion by Isabella Jordan, reviewed on Bitten by Books, but it's not on GoodReads.
  • This review of Blood Cross by Faith Hunter over at Book Lovers, Inc read good enough that I put the first in the series, Skinwalker, in my queue.
  • I've seen the book cover to Shift, by Rachel Vincent everywhere this past week. Does that mean I should read the Shifters series? Will I like it or hate it? So I decided to take a moment and read the interview with the author over at Fantasy Literature. Nothing really grabbed me hard about the series, but I did go ahead and put Stray in my to-read list. The reviews are all over the place though, so this one will get ordered up from the library.
  • Angelology, and if you hurry, you can enter to win a free copy.
• Don't miss these every week:
  
  • Nicole Hadaway's movie & book reviews over at her All Things Smart & Scary.
  • Win on Wednesday on All Things Urban Fantasy.

All About Writing & Publishing

• One of my favorite posts this week was Contests and My Tedious Ramblings About E-Piracy & Publishers' Websites over at Vampire Wire. I suggest you read through the comments as well.
• I had to chuckle a little reading Seven Questions You Should Never Ask a Writer over at Storytellers Unplugged.
• A link to All About Sequels came to me from Supriya Savkoor, fellow Wicked Writer. I enjoyed his post as well as a few older ones, and sure hope I don't have acute sequelitis. He sure opened my eyes to the publishing industries take on new writers publishing serial novels.
• This scares me: How Publishers Can Use Virtual Currency

Other Blog Tours

• Wasn't sure I'd find one this week, but WOW came through. Bonnie Hearn Hill, YA author of Aries Rising, launches her blog tour! Doesn't see look a little like Frasier's agent, what was her name? Bebee?

And...this week I added the following blogs to my watch list: Bookgasm, Nathan Bransford-Literary Agent. If you'd like me to check out your blog, add a comment below and include a link.

Writer Wednesday Blog Tour #6

How to Join the Tour

All About Writers & Books

• I really enjoyed this interview with Pamela Samuels Young over at Book Junkie, especially when she talks about trying to get people to critique her first novel.
• New Way of Book Reviewing was good for a chuckle. It's one student's comparison of 'Titanic' and 'My Life' by Bill Clinton.
• Where have I been hiding? I'm wondering because I've run into quite a few book reviews lately, like Defeat the Darkness and Spider Bite, that seem like they'd make better comic books or graphic novels.
• Book reviews that caught my eye this week and the books that got added to my GoodReads to-read list:
  
  • Over at Paranormal Haven a review of Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon. This is an old book and first in a series I might get hooked on.
• Don't forget to check out the regulars:
  
  • Nicole Hadaway's Writer Wednesday over at her Vampire Blogspot.
  • More from Ian LeWinter over at Overbury Ink in Why We Write, Part 3. And if you missed Part 1 & Part 2.

All About Writing & Publishing

• Kristin over at the Pub Rants blog brings up some interesting points on required contract verbiage changes due to the whole evolution of eBooks. This post is specifically about publishers holding reserves on eBook editions.
• Social Networking for Authors: Tips from Margo L. Dill. Title says it all.
  

Other Blog Tours

• WTFckery or Not, You Decide is sort of a blog tour of bizarre stuff.

And...this week I added the following blogs to my watch list: Book Junkie & Query Shark.